Udall pushes for renewable energy standard over August recess

Proponents of a renewable energy standard, which would require that a certain percentage of the country’s electricity be produced from sources like wind and solar, have ramped up efforts to convince Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to pass such a provision this year.

RES proponents are circulating a list of op-eds and columns authored over the August recess that call for passage of an RES. The op-eds were authored by Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., former Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, and members of the Union of Concerned Scientists and of United Steelworkers of America.

The effort is part of an ongoing push by the renewable energy industry and its allies to pass an RES this year. But it’s going to be an uphill battle. Reid has said he doesn’t have the votes to pass an RES, he didn’t include it in his stripped-down oil spill response and energy bill, and it remains an open question whether the Senate will be able to pass any energy provisions this year, at all.